Volunteers clean up Willston Center, Culmore areas

Volunteers plant flowers at the Willston Center.

About 55 volunteers of all ages spent Saturday morning spiffing up the area around the Willston Multicultural Center as part of Seven Corners Beautification Day, while about 300 or so picked up litter around Bailey’s Crossroads during the 12th annual Culmore Cleanup.

The Seven Corners volunteers planted flowers—Shasta daisies and coreopsis—on the Willston Center grounds, painted posts by the parking lot, and collected trash along Willston Drive, Patrick Henry Drive, and the pedestrian bridge over Arlington Boulevard. They had police escorts on the areas closest to Route 50.

There’s a lot less litter in Seven Corners, thanks to these volunteers.

The Sleepy Hollow Citizens Association donated $100 for flowers and snacks, Home Depot provided a $50 discount on flowers, and Starbuck donated coffee, says organizer Nancy Vorona, a member of the Baileys Crossroads/Seven Corners Revitalization Corporation board.

The volunteers were from the Willston Center afterschool program, the Sudanese Saturday School that meet at the center, Arlington Community Church, and the Lake Barcroft, Sleepy Hollow, Parklawn, and Ravenwood Park communities. At the end of the event, many stayed to watch video clips about taking care of the environment, include one on how trash hurts marine life and another on a young girl’s speech to the United Nation’s Earth Summit.

It’s important to have community events like this, says Culmore Cleanup organizer Priscilla Weck, because “when people are proud of having a clean neighborhood and of taking part in cleaning it up, they tend to keep it clean.”

Jackie and Ivan picked up litter during the Culmore Cleanup.

Bailey’s students and parents volunteered, along with people from
Alternative House, the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center, the Interact Club
at Stuart High School, Hispanics Against Child Abuse and Neglect, the
Rotary Club of Bailey’s Crossroads, Glasgow Middle School, and the
Coca-Cola Co. The Culmore Cleanup is supported by more than a dozen
sponsors.

The Culmore Cleanup was based at Bailey’s Elementary School, where volunteers were given free T-shirts, served lunch, and had an opportunity to tour a fire truck and learn about bugs at a display from the Hidden Oaks Nature Center.  

Daniel, Alex, and Angel pick up their Culmore Cleanup T-shirts.